Editor: Casey

Shi Qing blinked and looked a bit hurt. “Why try to pin all the blame on me? I have such a delicate body. If I wasn’t able to explain myself and Daren wanted to punish me, how can I withstand the paddling?”

When these words came out, Father Shi immediately tensed.

Despite constantly referring to his son as a ‘bastard’ or an ‘unruly brat’, he was more protective of Shi Qing than anyone.

Every time Shi Qing fell sick as a child, he would stay by his son’s bedside and supervised the doctor’s visits.

The Shi family only had this one young master. If something were to happen to him, the fortune and status Father Shi had worked hard to amass in Crane City would all be in vain.

He quickly turned to the Provincial Military Commander and said cautiously, “Daren, although this unruly son of mine seems to be in good health, he’s always been a delicate child. If he has done something to deserve punishment, please sentence him to something other than a beating.”

The still fuming Jiang Liye scoffed at Father Shi’s words.

As expected of a father that raised a bully like Shi Qing who could lie without blinking.

Were sons born to be spoiled? It’s not like he’s a girl. Wasn’t a young master his age ashamed to be so spoiled?

The Provincial Military Commander must think Father Shi was an unfit parent.

Father Jiang was basically in agreement. How did someone normally as shrewd looking as Father Shi fail so badly when it came to raising his son?

He spoke as well, but his words were the complete opposite of Father Shi’s. “Daren, since Liye has done wrong, his punishment will be left up to you. Feel free to beat him or punish him.”

Father Jiang was quite pleased with himself right now. After all, although their families were influential in Crane City, neither of their statuses could compare to an official like the Provincial Military Commander. To put it bluntly, they were dependent on others.

How could a bonafide Provincial Military Commander put up with others telling him what to do?

Furthermore, this Provincial Military Commander was recently appointed to his position. He had yet to establish his authority. The Provincial Military Commander must be very displeased by how much Father Shi doted on his son.

On the other hand, Father Jiang gave him free rein over his son’s punishment. Due to his cooperation, the Provincial Military Commander must now see him in a better light.

Father Jiang’s train of thought was logical and well-reasoned.

Unfortunately, this new Provincial Military Commander has an overflowing amount of fatherly love with no outlet inside because his son had passed away. He wasn’t very fond of the kind of father who was overly stern and would let outsiders scold his son.

Are you doing this because you have a bunch of sons at home, so having one die is no skin off your teeth?

Then where does that leave me?? I finally had a child after trying for so long…I even brought him up with the utmost care and attention. But before he could marry and give me lots of grandchildren, a bout of illness took him from me…

The Provincial Military Commander’s heart was filled with sorrow. His gaze towards Father Jiang became increasingly unkind.

His way of thinking was somewhat similar to Father Shi’s.

Father Shi had never seen eye to eye with this in-law of his because he was jealous of how many sons Father Jiang had. They were all so obedient too.

Every time he heard Father Jiang humblebrag about son #1, 3, 7, etc., Father Shi’s eyes would turn red with envy.

Although the Provincial Military Commander was not so jealous that his eyes turned red, he obviously felt closer to Father Shi, who carefully doted on and cared for his child.

Sigh, those who have the same misfortune sympathize with each other.

Father Jiang was still blabbering on over there: “My wicked son has caused so much trouble just after Daren came into your position… Although this one is not an official, I understand that I must yield to Daren’s authority. Feel free to beat or punish him as you wish. This one will not object.”

The Provincial Military Commander gave him a look. He took those words to basically mean, “Hehehe, my son isn’t afraid of being beat by you at all.”

A sense of frustration grew in him as he nodded.

“In that case&#k2026;beat him!”

Father Jiang: “&#k2026;”

Jiang Liye: “???”

Wait a minute, what’s going on, ah?

What’s with this illogical turn of events, ah?!

They’ve been nothing but cooperative!

Instead, it was the Shi family who refused to back down and even gave all sorts of demands. Logically speaking, shouldn’t Shi Qing be the one getting a beating instead of them?

And even if physical punishment was unavoidable, shouldn’t they both be beaten to be fair??

Both of them were shocked, but the Provincial Military Commander had no intention of explaining himself.

He felt like he had already given the Jiang family enough face by only sentencing Jiang Liye to ten blows as a formality.

The young masters were considered accomplices so five blows each would suffice.

With this, all the pent-up frustration the new official had in settling into his position had been let out.

The hall was immediately filled with a cacophony of wails.

As a servant who was not involved, Jiang Bieyu was kneeling in silence by the side, nearly invisible to all.

However, his eyes never strayed from the little master calmly seated on his stool. The little master that didn’t seem to feel the least bit uneasy that everyone else was being beaten but him.

Shi Qing even seemed to derive joy from their miserable states.

Not only was he watching them be beaten, amusement also seemed to flash by his face from time to time since he had his back to the elders.

The young masters had more or less been beaten before at home and knew the rules of the game by now. Even if their pain was only a 3 out of 10, they screamed loud enough to make it seem like 300. The ones carrying out the punishment knew they were Crane City’s young masters, so they would immediately use less force.

Jiang Liye had never been beaten since he was a child.

He didn’t know how to play up his pain like the others. When he was about to scream from the pain, he looked up to see Shi Qing smiling down at him.

That brat even ‘kindly’ reminded him: “Brother-in-law, are you in pain? It’ll hurt less if you scream.”

Jiang Liye: “…”

Would Shi Qing be so kind as to remind him? No!

He was clearly just rubbing salt in his wounds!

Damn it!

He wasn’t going to scream no matter what!

Since the man beating him didn’t hear anything, he thought Jiang Liye could handle it and didn’t let up at all.

Jiang Liye’s face was drenched in cold sweat from the blows. He hurt so much that he was beginning to question life, but not a sound left his throat because Shi Qing was ‘watching the show’ in front of him. The sheer frustration and pain he felt nearly made him black-out.

In the end, the other young masters were all shivering with snot running down their faces, but they remained kneeling.

Only Jiang Liye was sprawled out like a dead dog, lacking the strength to move a single muscle.

The Provincial Military Commander’s brows immediately furrowed.

It was only ten blows, and he hadn’t even asked his subordinates to take it seriously.

This Jiang Liye was so quick to push the blame to others and so quick to fold under punishment as well…

His distaste was not anywhere close to being concealed so Father Jiang soon noticed. He immediately became dissatisfied with Jiang Liye, a son he had always been pleased with before.

Father Jiang believed Jiang Liye had a bright future ahead of him. He was quite good-looking, he knew how to make his father happy, he was the eldest son of his generation, and he even married the eldest legitimate daughter of the Shi family.

But this brat was always doing stupid stunts like this. His marriage to the Shi family was meant to give him a boost in the Jiang family’s heir competition.

It would’ve still been fine if Jiang Liye only didn’t know how to placate Shi Xi, but he insisted on alienating his in-laws as well.

Shi Qing was the Shi family’s only young master. The incident where Jiang Liye pushed him into the water was barely smoothed over with a concubine-born son, but now this brat was blatantly trying to frame Shi Qing in front of so many people.

You want to frame someone? Fine, whatever. But at least make sure to succeed…

Now Father Jiang was dragged in and lost a lot of face as well. The Provincial Military Commander was just appointed, so wasn’t Jiang Liye making trouble slapping his face?!

Father Jiang looked unhappy, but Father Shi was pretty satisfied.

As long as his son didn’t suffer any losses.

The Provincial Military Commander had just been appointed, so he couldn’t dig his heels into this matter. After carrying out the punishment and saying a few words of encouragement, he let everyone go.

When the young masters heard that they could leave, they all bowed to Father Jiang and Father Shi and then slipped away faster than anyone else.

They were all gone in no time.

As soon as the little manservant saw that the coast was clear, he quickly stepped forward to help the young master. However, Father Jiang coldly snorted as he passed by.

“Let him get up on his own.”

So Jiang Liye could only get up slowly with great difficulty. The hatred filling his heart to the brim made him look at Shi Qing as soon as he got up.

But all he saw was the little master leaning against Jiang Bieyu with a weak look on his face as he complained to his father.

“I was kneeling for so long that my knees hurt. It hurts so much when I move so I can’t walk anymore.”

Father Shi may appear cold and strict on the surface, but he was genuinely worried that Shi Qing had injured his knees.

After all, he’s never had the heart to make this little ancestor kneel his whole life. Father Shi immediately said, “Hold on to one of the servants or have them carry you on their back.”

“Why not have him carry me in his arms?”

Shi Qing stood up and put his arms around Jiang Bieyu’s neck.

The always silent man readily scooped him up with practiced motions.

What an ambiguous scene this was.

Father Shi didn’t notice anything wrong. He carefully examined his son’s knees with a distressed expression.

When Jiang Liye limped out of the door, he saw an anxious Shi-furen emerge from the palanquin outside.

As soon as she saw Shi Qing being carried out, she immediately rushed over to him with a group of people and fussed over him like a mother hen.

“My child, are you alright? Where are you hurt? Aiyoyo, you poor thing… Let mother take a look. What are you all still standing there for?? Why aren’t you busy bringing the palanquin over?! Don’t let my son catch a cold.”

Jiang Bieyu silently hugged Shi Qing, listening to the little master in his arms stiffened and complained: “Mom, my knees hurt so much. Because of brother-in-law trying to frame me, I had to kneel for a long time. Aiyo, don’t touch me, don’t touch me. Just let Jiang Bieyu carry me into the palanquin. It hurts.”

Shi-furen was so distraught that she sent Shi Qing into the palanquin with Jiang Bieyu before turning to glare hatefully at Jiang Liye.

She knew what was going on now.

This ‘son-in-law’ was trying to torment her son to death so that the Shi family would have no choice but to leave him everything.

Shi-furen thought about her suffering daughter. She’s always held back for her daughter’s sake, but Jiang Liye has really gone too far this time.

No more!

Shi-furen made up her mind to stand up for her children. Her gaze towards Jiang Liye became increasingly unkind.

“How dare you treat Qing-er like this as his brother-in-law? He can’t even walk now, while you’re standing fine on your own two feet. This isn’t over, Jiang Liye!”

We’ll get a divorce if worse comes to worst!

This time, even if she had to nag Laoye for half a month, she would definitely make him agree to stand up for their daughter.

The more she thought about it, the more infuriated Shi-furen became. She almost tore her handkerchief in two.

“You’ve gone too far!”

She turned to storm into her palanquin, leaving Jiang Liye standing there alone, covered in injuries and afraid to move because it hurt so much.

He, the person who was actually injured and limping but still had to walk, watched as the curtain from Shi Qing’s palanquin was lifted.

The little master, who had not received a single blow, was nestled in the arms of the tall man. He raised his chin smugly in triumph at Jiang Liye.”

“Pei! You’ve gone too far!”

So much resentment built up in Jiang Liye’s chest that he nearly suffocated.

“I’ve gone too far?! You– cough cough cough!!!”

The servants who were carefully following behind him panicked at once.

“This isn’t good!!! The young master has been beaten to the point of coughing blood!!!”

Jiang Liye wiped at the corner of his mouth. There really was bright red blood there.

His sight went dark for a moment.

What do you mean I’ve been beaten to the point of coughing blood??

This was from rage!

Pure, unadulterated rage!!!!